Agoraphobia

*Case history release (with clients’ permission) of 36 year old woman who used Vivation to overcome acute agoraphobia.

Vive Pro: Paul HughesDate: August, 2003

At the start of the first session, client had not left her house in over 6 months. Her husband said she was afraid to go outside, which included her own backyard. My goal with any client is to get their skill up well enough so they can integrate any feeling in less than a minute with coaching. The final goal is to get them to an efficiency of one integration per minute without coaching.

By the afternoon of the second day I was confident the client was able to efficiently integrate any feeling that came up with my coaching. I began by having her vive while walking towards the back sliding glass door. She became activated as we got closer but was quickly able to integrate those feelings and get back to a place of calm. I opened the sliding glass door, and had her come to the edge and look around her back yard. She was activated again, but was applying the five elements of Vivation successfully. She started to cry a little, but she had a smile on her face, and said the outside air felt wonderful. Then without my prompting, walked out onto the grass.

She then said, “why have I been afraid of this?”. I said it didn’t matter. What mattered is that she could feel the feeling itself and integrate it entirely at the physical-feeling level. She then started to walk around her back yard, which led to a stream nearby. We spent the next hour walking along the stream. She was activated but also thrilled at this new found freedom, and had no idea how much fear she had been living in. She continued to Vive and integrated whatever activated feelings came up. She reported a strong body-wide feeling of bliss.

The following day I suggested we drive downtown. Although she was nervous at the prospect she agreed. I had her drive so she could control her own experience. We found a good parking space near a lot of shops and people. We walked around for over an hour, and had lunch in a nice cafe. There she met several of her friends who wondered where she’s been and why they haven’t seen her in so long. She just smiled, and said had been very, very busy. This is true, she had been very busy struggling with her fear, but no more. She told me later how happy she was to finally get out and see old friends again. We spent the rest of the afternoon doing increasingly public things, including an eyegaze session in with lots of people around.

At the end of our training she drove me to the airport, and spent time with me there until my plane left.

6-Month Follow-Up

The client reported that she no longer had any residual agoraphobia that she was aware of. She said she had regained her social life and was “out and about” almost every day.